The invention concerns a portable device for providing a vacuum for medical vacuum treatment of a wound on the body of a person or of an animal, comprising a suction pump, which generates a vacuum and is located in a housing part of the device, wherein a connection is provided for a suction line that leads to the body such that vacuum communication can be established between the suction pump and the suction line that leads to the body, and with a holding or carrying device with two connecting sections on the housing, which are disposed on the housing part for connection to two strap-side connecting sections of a holding or carrying strap.
The above-mentioned definition “portable device” means that the patient can carry the device along so that he/she is mobile and his/her wound can nevertheless be permanently treated, i.e. without interruption. The portable device may thereby be held on the body of the patient and be carried along by means of a holding or carrying device. A portable device of the above-mentioned type may naturally also be used for stationary operation, i.e. detached from the body of the patient. In this case, it may e.g. be mounted to a hospital bed or be deposited next to the hospital bed.
Vacuum wound treatment devices have been described many times, in particular, in US 2004/0073151 A1, WO 2009/047524 A2, WO 2007/030599 A2 or EP 1 905 465 A1, EP 777 504 B and in DE 10 2009 038 130 A1 and DE 10 2009 038 131 A1 of the assignee. The two latter publications already describe a portable device, wherein a strap-shaped section is mentioned as holding or carrying device for mobile operation, wherein this holding or carrying device can be removed for stationary operation of the device.
In devices of this type for vacuum treatment of wounds, a suction pump communicates via a suction line with the wound or the wound area, wherein a wound dressing with an air-tight cover is provided for air-tight sealing of the wound and the wound area, such that a vacuum can be generated in the wound region and fluids can be extracted by suction from the wound region.
The term vacuum in connection with the present invention defines an air pressure that is lower than the ambient air pressure (atmospheric air pressure), in particular, inside a wound dressing. The cover material of a wound dressing for air-tight sealing of a wound region must therefore be designed in such a fashion that it withstands the pressure difference that is established such that a vacuum can actually be applied to and maintained in the wound region. The wound dressing and the cover material are, however, typically flexible to a certain degree. In the field of vacuum therapy for the treatment of wounds, the vacuum is quantitatively defined as the pressure difference between ambient air pressure and the air pressure applied below the cover material. In the field of vacuum therapy, this pressure difference is typically at most 250 mmHg (mm mercury column) (1 mm Hg=1 Torr.=133.322 Pa). This vacuum range of up to maximally 250 mmHg has turned out to be suitable for wound healing. A preferred vacuum range is between 10 and 150 mmHg.
In a typical vacuum treatment, the vacuum that is applied to the wound by means of the device can either be kept substantially constant with time or can be varied with time, in particular, in cycles, which can be realized by a correspondingly designed and programmed control device for the vacuum-generating device, in particular, in dependence on further parameters.
An advantageously flexible suction line, e.g. in the form of a drainage hose, is provided for applying a vacuum and advantageously also for extracting body fluids, the drainage hose communicating at one end with the wound area or the wound region via a so-called port in the area of the wound cover material, and at the other end communicating with the vacuum-generating device, advantageously thereby interposing a container for receiving body fluids, in particular, wound exudates extracted from the wound by suction.
In addition to vacuum wound treatment, the present device may also be used for other applications for providing a vacuum for medical applications, in particular, extraction of any body fluids by suction, in the field of medical incontinence management, in the field of care of stoma patients or in the field of extraction of wound exudates, if necessary, thereby using rinsing liquids and also without application of a vacuum over considerable time periods.
Based on a portable device of this type for providing a vacuum for medical vacuum treatment of wounds, it is the underlying purpose of the present invention to further improve the handling quality of the device for stationary and mobile operation.